Yesterday I woke up 30 minutes before the 4:30am wake up call. I woke up refreshed and ready to go. Today I snoozed 3 times after a restless night of sleep and a 11:30pm break of slumber that lasted till 1am.
Yesterday I had only a half of cup of coffee and was out the door by 5:30am. Today I had 1 1/2 cups and barely got out the door by 6:15am.
Yesterday it was 17 degrees out and right when I got outside my nose and lips went numb, my hands were frozen and began hurting right away and remained in pain through out the run, and my legs never really did warm up. Today it was about 29 degrees outside, I had 2 layers of gloves, and I warmed up by mile 4 and my body temp remained comfortable for the entire run.
Yesterday Ken and I talked for almost the entire run; he mainly talked and I love hearing his stories. It helped pass the time and kept me entertained. I will admit, running with him is delightful and because of this I fall in love deeper every day. Today, we both seemed to be tired. We ran 10 miles yesterday so our legs were reasonably heavy and fatigued. Conversation was a minimal this morning run. My head was the struggle all run as pointed out by Ken who did a wonderful job letting me know that my body is capable of the distant, it's my mental capacity that needs training.
Yesterday it felt like we cruised along for the 10 miles, enjoying the scenery, talking about the crazy things we did in the past and remarking on the architecture of the neighborhoods of Wash Park and nearby Cheesman Park. Today, I felt like someone was playing a trick on me and had my legs tied to a string and held the resistance for all 10 miles, as if bricks were at the end of the string held down by cement. I noticed the scenery but spent most of the time with my eyes down concentrating only on putting one foot in front of the other.
Yesterday I hit the wall at 7 miles. I had inner thigh pain and needed to stop a few times to stretch; however I pushed through the wall and continued for the next 3 miles at a steady 8:50 pace. Today I hit the wall at 6 miles. I had hamstring tightness, struggled with picking up my legs. I was inside of my head too much. The last 4 miles was a push of mental endurance. I felt bad that I may have been holding up Ken. He stayed with me and talked to me about the different techniques on how to take inventory of your body and to see if you are struggling with real pain or the inevitable struggle of running right through your comfort zone, standing on the edge of complete physical discomfort and mental chaos.
Yesterday my upper body was mildly tight. Today my right shoulder blade went numb and then the numbness turned to pain. I have battled with this in the past and when I was about 26 stopped training for endurance because of this. Ken talked me through some body checks and made me realize that even though it was causing me pain, I definitely could continue running through it. At mile 8 the shoulder blade relaxed and I didn't even notice the pain the last 2 miles.
Yesterday I had a hop in my step the last mile, picked up the pace and ran confidently to the end. Today, the slight incline for the remaining 1/2 mile felt like a 2000 foot vertical incline (possible exaggeration) that I would never be able to conquer.
Yesterday we completed 10 miles by 7:15am. Today we completed 10.5 miles by 8:00am.
Two different days. Two different runs. 10 miles finished. 1:30 minutes of running. Though each run presented specific challenges, on each day not only did I get out of the door with my running shoes on I had finished what I had started.
As Ken as said to me, "Anyone can run to the wall, it's what you do after the wall that counts."
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